1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a print system and a print terminal, and an image saving system and an image saving unit, more specifically to a technique for receiving an image from a portable device having the image by wireless communication and printing or saving the received image.
2. Description of the Related Art
When a person wants to print an image taken by a digital camera, a camera cellular phone or the like by a print terminal placed at a store or the like, the person conventionally would take a memory card out from the digital camera or the camera cellular phone, insert the memory card into a corresponding card slot of a memory card reader/writer of the print terminal and have the print terminal read an image in the memory card.
A wide variety of memory cards can be used for a digital camera or the like, such as a smart media, an xD picture card, a compact flash, an SD card, a memory stick, an ATA PC card, a floppy disk and the like. The print terminal has a memory card reader/writer with card slots corresponding to respective types of memory card.
Thus, when a new standard appears for a memory card, the print terminal with no card slot for the new standard cannot use the memory card complying with the new standard. In addition, a user may be confused about which card slot the user should insert his memory card, or may insert his memory card into a wrong card slot. Further, a user cannot use a print terminal to print an image if the image is stored in a device, which stores images in a built-in memory, such as a cellular phone or the like.
Therefore, a print terminal with a function of wirelessly receiving an image from a digital camera or the like for solving the above-mentioned problems is considered.
If plural terminals that can communicate with a print terminal with a wireless communication function are in a communication area of the print terminal, however, the print terminal may communicate with terminals other than the terminal which is going to order a print. If the print terminal starts communication after identifying the terminal to be communicated, both the print terminal and the terminal need to perform operation for inputting connecting information for identifying the each other, which is troublesome.
In view of the problems, each of Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2003-32175, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2003-32176, and Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2003-32261 discloses a communication system in a ubiquitous network consisting of an information processing unit (personal computer) and a plurality of communication terminals (cellular phones), wherein each of the cellular phone has a built-in non-contact IC card for easily identifying the other party; and wherein the personal computer reads identifying information of the cellular phone registered on the non-contact IC card without contact; and wherein the system establishes a channel between the personal computer and the cellular phone based on the identifying information.
FIG. 9 of Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2001-307032 discloses a portable terminal for reading electronic information written in a non-contact IC card or a non-contact IC tag via a RFID reader/writer section without contact. The portable terminal includes a battery charger for charging a charging battery in the terminal by electromagnetic induction, and a wireless communication unit for sending information in memory to an external appliance by wireless communication via an electronic wave. The invention according to Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2001-307032 is characterized in that an antenna coil in the RFID reader/writer section, a coil of the battery charger (secondary coil) and an antenna of the wireless communication unit are shared.